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The Documentary: Shifting Cultures: Vanuatu’s stolen generation

Boys playing on the beach in Tanna, Vanatu by-Fiona-Pepper

02/02/2020 GMT

Vanuatu’s stolen generation

Shifting Cultures

BBC World Service - The Documentary, Shifting Cultures, Vanuatu’s stolen generation

Thousands of boys and young men were kidnapped and taken to work on sugar plantations

In the 1860s, tens of thousands of boys and young men were kidnapped and taken to work on Australian sugar plantations.

On the tiny island of Tanna in Vanuatu in the South Pacific the ocean is a huge part of everyday life. The Tannanese rely on the sea for their livelihood and the beach for cultural ceremony. But 150 years ago something happened on their beaches, forever changing their relationship to the ocean.

In the 1860s throughout the Pacific Islands tens of thousands of boys and young men were kidnapped and coerced from beaches and put onto boats. They were then taken thousands of kilometres away to Australia. On arrival they were made to work on sugar cane plantations.

ABC producer Fiona Pepper travels to Tanna to hear stories of the blackbirding trade, how the community continues to struggle as it lives with this history and how now, questions are being asked of Australia’s responsibility to acknowledge this brutal past.

The Documentary: Shifting Cultures

We visit 4 societies in Asia and the Pacific where traditional cultures are under pressure

The lives of people across Asia and the Pacific are rapidly changing, traditional cultures are under pressure. In this series from The ABC in Australia we visit four very different societies where locals are learning to adapt.

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